USS Zeilin (AP-9) was a United States Navy transport. As a ship of the AP type, she was meant to carry troops and the equipment that had to go ashore with them.
The same hull was later designated APA-3. Under that number she remained a transport, and the fate set down for her is that she survived.
On 7 August 1942 Zeilin was present for the landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi. She belonged to Transport Group YOKE and was stationed off Tulagi.
Neville, Heywood, and President Jackson were in Transport Group YOKE with her. The group's place that day was off Tulagi, where these transports stood for the landing.
Pat Buchanan was in command of Zeilin on 7 August 1942. He had the ship off Tulagi while Transport Group YOKE took its part in the landings.
The transport that lay off Tulagi that morning as AP-9 is the hull later numbered APA-3. She survived.